I just got an e-mail and I got in! I am like shaking right now, I can not believe it. No matter what anyone says, writing in does help! OMG, I was stressing so much about going to NY and wondering whether I could get a job in California, but this is like a dream come true. Thank you, law school admission gods!

Love,Q

Congrats! That's wonderful news! While I have yet to receive a letter informing me of the disposition of my application, I have been informed that the waitlist is to close in the very near future. When pressed to clarify whether that means that no more people will be getting in off the waitlist, I was told that is decidedly the case.

The due date for all of the waitlist confirmations was June 30. Plus, I know that some people just retook the LSAT hoping to better their chances. My guess is that there won't be any movement until July.

Let everyone know that they are your first choice and you will attend if taken off the wait-list. If you go to Kansas, I highly doubt lawyers from NYC will come out to interview the best candidates. I could be wrong, but I just don't see it happening. The closer you are to where you want to work, the better. Best of luck!

Right you are, Faure! I don't think that any more than a few large firms from major markets will turn up for on-campus interviews at Kansas, but with a good transcript, some networking and a few plane tickets, I suspect that the very best graduates from Kansas can expect to have a crack at major markets like NYC.

We are agreed, however, that once a law school is perceived to be regional, it may be easier simply to attend a law school in the region where one wants to work. To pretend otherwise is fiction.

I think you need to think more about regional preference here. Most of these schools are regional, and will place best in their specfic areas.

The first thing to do is lobby NU and Miami to get in off their waitlists. Make clear that they're (both) your first-choice school, and that you'll attend if admitted. (Yes, a little disingenuous, but good strategy.)

Unless you want to work in L.A., I'd focus on Miami. It's a cool, international city, and is probably close to home for you, relatively speaking. The school itself has a strong rep in the area.

Otherwise, I'd go with SW, as I think both Kansas and SW will keep you in the region, and I'm assuming you'd prefer to work in L.A. than Kansas. However, this is obviously a personal preference.

Many thanks for your reply, Blogger!

The University of Miami does seem to be a rather nice place to study, but what is the greater Miami area like? From what I have seen of crime stats for the Miami area, I have a hard time believing that the vast majority of violent crime is contained in a few neighbourhoods. I cannot stress enough how much I loathe such crime....

Is Miami any less a regional school than Rutgers-Newark? I get the impression that both Miami and Rutgers-Newark might open a few doors in NYC for grads in, say, the top 10% of their class at either school, but after that, I think that the appeal of such candidates would be purely regional. No offence to the people of Florida, but Miami would have to be one cool city to inspire me to live there; I have friends and family in the Tampa Bay area, and I find that, Florida's second metropolitan area, to be simply awful. And don't even get me started on the Panhandle and those parts of Florida given over to the religious right. I don't generally feel comfortable around "true believers."

What was your game plan for applying to these schools? Waitlisted at Northwestern and accepted at Southwestern? You must write an awesome personal statement. You should go to Southwestern if you want to practice in California, and Kansas if you want to practice anywhere else. Another thing to think about, if you do well at SW you can probably transfer to USC. A friend of mine transferred to SC after kicking ass at SW for a year. Best of luck either way!

Many thanks for your reply.

To answer your question, I am a graduate of a foreign law school and am interested in securing a J.D. to practice in the States. To that end, I deliberately restricted my applications to schools that have two-year accelerated programs for graduates of foreign law schools (among which Kansas and Northwestern are included) and to schools that would otherwise allow me to complete the full J.D. curriculum in two years (which the SCALE program at Southwestern allows me to do). To be perfectly blunt about it, I have neither the finances nor the appetite to withstand a full three years of study at an American law school.

Apparently, to be attractive to big firms from coast-to-coast in the States, one needs to graduate from Kansas in the top 10% of his or her class. Having already graduated from one law school, I can assure people on this message board that such an achievement is easier said than done!

I would be surprised if the powers that be at Harvard change their minds regarding the disposition of your application. That being said, if you're desperate to go there, you may not have a whole lot to lose. I fear that you may appear to be obviously desperate to them, however, and that may do nothing at all to advance your cause.

Is this a power-thing? If your avatar is generally representative of your form, you are likely a very attractive woman and may be used to getting your way. You would do well to note that this matter may be beyond your control.

And I must say that I agree with others on this board that you have been accepted to some very fine law schools and that you might not be well-advised to sit out a year in the hope of getting into Harvard next year.

I think that you should not send anymore letters to them. They have rejected you for this cycle, there is a point at which you become psycho/obsessed and it seems like you are at that point. See if they send you anything else, if not start to make plans for your future. I would not harrass them anymore this year!!

Reputation and the desirability of my degree are of primary importance to me, so that's why I'm PRAYING for Northwestern. Lawrence looks like a pretty cool little college town, and the faculty and staff seem to be extremely friendly, but I know that these things shouldn't be the primary factors informing my choice.